bigglesfandomcom-20200215-history
Le dernier Zeppelin (Miklo)/plot
The story has no section breaks. These, with suitable titles, are inserted here to make for easier reading. A squadron reunion The former members of 666 Sqn are having a good time at a reunion at the Merry Mermaid Pub when Biggles arrives with the startling news that the Air Police crew must depart for Egypt the next morning. Biggles, Algy, Ginger and Bertie remain behind after the party to discuss the strange case that Air Commodore Raymond had just given to them. A top secret prototype aircraft, the Space Arrow had just disappeared from El Nuhud, a remote base deep in the Egyptian desert. The circumstances are mysterious. The sentries had been gassed. The aircraft had simply gone. Its engines had not been heard. It had not taken off. Its tanks had been empty. The only strange thing was that the sand in a part of the base was wet, although it had not rained in the area for a long time. Ginger believes that aircraft must have been lifted out, but there was no aircraft at El Nuhud that could lift that kind of load, nor had its engines been heard. Roscoe, the bartender overhears and offers a suggestion. He thinks the answer could be an airship! It was commonly believed that Germany had abandoned the airship programme after the Hindenburg disaster in 1937. But Roscoe had worked in intelligence in Germany and Switzerland before the Second World War. In 1938, he had been on duty at Constance and there he had learnt that the Zeppelin company had built some new Zeppelins. Supposedly, Goering had ordered their destruction later but.... What clinches the case for Roscoe is the fact that in lifting a heavy load such as the Space Arrow, a zeppelin would have to release ballast, and this ballast was water! This would explain the wet sand. Cairo Biggles sends Ginger to Friedrichshafen to follow up on the Zeppelin lead. Meanwhile, he, Algy and Bertie arrive in Cairo. They meet up with an undercover contact which Raymond had given them, one Hosni Yaffaoui. Yaffaoui has already been on the job. He tells them that the sentries at the base had apparently been exposed to an unknown gas which rendered them unconscious and temporarily amnesiac. Yaffaoui's agents had not heard any news of the prototype in the Nile Valley, the Sundan frontier or the Red Sea coast. Therefore he concludes that the prototype must still be in Egypt, probably in the remote desert. He also drops a bombshell: of the little information he has, he is certain there is a traitor among the personnel at the El Nuhud airbase. Biggles and co. proceed to the airport. Along the way, Bertie picks up a few fez hats and puts one on in jest. He meets his match for at the airport they meet one Flying Officer Edward Soames who is to travel to El Nuhud with them. Soames is a jocular character who regales them with jokes while flying in a Dragon Rapide on the way to their destination, what he calls "the lost among the lost". El Nuhud and the first reconnaissance In their quarters at the base, Biggles discuss the case. The zeppelin could not have flown very far given the time between the discovery of the disappearance and the break of day otherwise someone would have seen it. Therefore he surmises that it has had been hidden, which could only be in the mountainous terrain in the direction of the Red Sea. They do not notice that someone is eavesdropping at their window. The next morning, Biggles and Algy make a reconnaissance flight in an AT-6. They spot a caravan and land to make enquiries. Had they seen a large cigar in the sky at night? To their surprise, the nomads reply that they had. It had been heading in the direction of "the Forbidden Valley". Meanwhile Bertie is studying photos of the party the base was having the night of the disappearance of the prototype. He notes someone missing from the party.... Biggles and Algy return and ask the base commander about "the Forbidden Valley", which they believe is in the Djebel area north of Quseir. The station commander knows about the place but thinks that any request to go to the place will be refused. The valley was the domain of one Lord Archibald Donington, an eccentric person who was apparently a member of the royal family and enjoyed a measure of protection. During World War 1, he had distinguished himself as a fighter ace but his attitude changed during World War 2 where he turned against Britain and almost took the side of Rommel against Montgomery. After the war he had settled in his valley and focussed on archaeology and the search for oil. His patrons, to keep him out of trouble, promised that no one would approach the valley nor fly over it. The latest news was that he had some links with Russia. Nonetheless, Biggles decides that he must do a photo-reconnaissance of the valley as the stakes are too high. The station commander tells him to obtain a camera from Soames as he is the station's specialist in photo-reconnaissance matters. Bertie advises Algy to beware of Soames. Algy thinks he is a clown, but Bertie, who uses clowning behaviour himself to good effect, is not so sure. Algy makes a discovery The next morning, Algy departs in an AT-6 on the photo-reconnaissance flight alone. Biggles stays behind to request for information about Donington from Raymond. Meanwhile Bertie continues his study of the base personnel and finds that there is one person whose movements were unaccounted for on the evening of the disappearance of the prototype. Algy flies over "the Forbidden Valley" and begins to take pictures but suddenly he discovers that his controls do not respond and he barely survives the crash landing and hurriedly vacates the aircraft before it bursts into flames. He proceeds north to "the Forbidden Valley" where he hopes to find some help. He comes across some huts but they are all deserted. He thinks there might be someone in a large cave so he draws aside a camouflage net and sees ... a zeppelin! Ginger has an idea Ginger arrives telling others that the trip to Friedrichshafen had been worth it. The zeppelin works have been largely destroyed by bombing during the war but he had managed to access the archives of the Zeppelin Company. Apparently Germany still had two airworthy Zeppelins in 1940, the LZ 130 and LZ 131 which had been used for electronic surveillance off the British coast. These had been fitted with silent electric motors for propulsion. It had been believed that Goering had ordered the two zeppelins scrapped to recover their metal for aircraft production but Ginger had found from the archives that the amount of metal recovered only matched what was used for one zeppelin! There was also a rumour in Friedrichshafen that a zeppelin had been sent to Libya to serve with Rommel as an air transport. All this would not help find the zeppelin but Ginger has an idea. A zeppelin needs a large quantity of gas--hydrogen or helium. The only place in Egypt where such large quantities of gas could be delivered was through the Suez Canal. Biggles seizes the idea and they take an Avro Anson for a reconnaissance. They meet the harbour master at Suez who has compiled a list of ships carrying hydrogen or helium transiting the canal. Studying the list, they note that Donington Drillings has had three gas deliveries in the last year. The most recent by a Russian ship, the Maxim Gorki. According to the harbour master, the ship was still at an anchorage an hour to the south so our friends fly there. Overflying the ship, they notice workmen fabricating some triangular frames in the hold. To the Forbidden Valley But now Bertie gets an urgent message from El Nuhud. They have been unable to contact Algy. Biggles decides to fly to the Forbidden Valley to have a look. They spot the wreckage of Algy's AT-6. Bertie muses that the last person to touch Algy's plane is Soames, but.... They land and are immediately challenged by someone who claims the land is his property and they are to leave immediately. Biggles explains that he is looking for a friend who has crashed but the man continues to insist that they leave. His guards cock their weapons so our friends decide to leave immediately. After takeoff, Bertie remarks that he is quite certain that man who claimed to be the owner of the land was not Lord Donington. Conference with Raymond Raymond arrives at El Nuhud. The case has become delicate and he has been asked to oversee the case personally. He has other news. Their enemies had sent a message to the British ambassador in Cairo saying that they now hold Algy as a hostage. What's more, the mastermind behind this is not Donington. Raymond tells Biggles and co. that Donington had died in Moscow ten months ago but the event had been kept a secret. Raymond shows Biggles and co. a photo of Donington with some associates at a reception at the Soviet embassy in Warsaw. They recognise the man who had expelled them at the "Forbidden Valley". It's one Anatoly von Chovanetz. A former SS officer who had crossed over to work behind the Iron Curtain and now the Director of the KGB Centre for Aeronatical Espionage. A thorough professional and a cold killer. Looking more closely at the photo, Bertie notices someone else: Soames! So his earlier suspicions had been correct! The station commander calls for Soames to be arrested but he is nowhere to be found. A sentry reports that he was seen heading for the main road. Biggles and co. grab a jeep and go after him. But it's too late: they hear explosions. Soames is on the tarmac sabotaging the base aircraft. Many of them are burning. Biggles drives the jeep straight at Soames. He fires at them with a submachine gun and wounds Ginger but Bertie, ever the marksman, shots him down. There's still an AT-6 undamaged so Biggles and Ginger grab it and manage to take off through the smoke and flames, narrowly avoiding a collision with a Tiger Moth which is returning to the base. Intercept the Zeppelin! Biggles and Bertie head for the "Forbidden Valley". There is an urgent message: the Maxim Gorky has put to sea. Obviously Biggles' investigations have stirred things up. The zeppelin must be on its way to rendezvous with the ship on the high seas. They soon spot the zeppelin in the air and it has the prototype fighter slung underneath it. The crew of the zeppelin open fire on them and Bertie wants to respond but Biggles warns him not to. The zeppelin is filled with hydrogen and the whole thing might blow up and the valuable prototype with it. Biggles decides to try something desperate. He tells Bertie to fly over the top of the zeppelin--he plans to jump into it. It is crazy, but so is the whole course of events. Biggles jumps and falls through the fabric of the zeppelin and manages to arrest his fall by grabbing some cables. He makes his way to the dining room of the vessel where he meets and disarms a guard. Nearby he stumbles on Algy and releases him. They are glad to see each other but their troubles are not over. At the bottom of the fuselage they find a hatchway and, looking through it, they see the prototype suspended by cables below the zeppelin. But they have to hurry--the zeppelin is approaching overhead the Maxim Gorky. They climb down into the aircraft and Biggles finds a parachute. This gives him an idea on how to save the prototype. Algy puts on the parachute while Biggles shoots at the aircraft's restraining cables. Biggles then grabs Algy and they jump and deploy the parachute. Meanwhile, the aircraft, free of the zeppelin, plunges into the sea. Finale The crew on the Maxim Gorky see Biggles and Algy drifting down and start shooting at them. On board the zeppelin, von Chovanetz realises the danger but he can't stop them. As he fears, the bullets strike the zeppelin and it explodes, plunging down onto the Maxim Gorky which also blows up. Back in London, Biggles and his Air Police crew are commended and decorated for their work but for Bertie, it is not over, not until they have a grand party, with fezes and all! Category:Plot summaries (derivative works)